This invention relates generally to board games and in particular to a board game that simulates competitive advancement in a hierarchial organization and utilizes a selector die in combination with coded digit dice to select randomly one move from a large number of moves.
Board games that simulate a competitive situation are well known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,545,762 to Atkinson, U.S. Pat. No. 3,463,496 to Weinstein et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 3,709,498 to Liston disclose board games which simulate, respectively, a political campaign, a horse race, and warfare. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,559,993 to Thomas and U.S. Pat. No. 3,397,890 to Newton both describe games which simulate the stock market. In the former group of games, playing pieces are used in conjunction with the board, while in the latter group, no playing pieces are used. In the Atkinson political campaign game the number of pieces occupying a political district are used to indicate control of the vote in that district, whereas in the Liston warfare game and the Weinstein horse race game the position and movement of the pieces on the board are significant. In Liston a number of pieces are moved, in a manner resembling checkers or chess, according to a pre-set program. In Weinstein, the pieces advance around a closed track with the first playing piece to cross the finish line winning the game.
It is also well known to control the movement of playing pieces on a game board with the roll of dice. Further, it is known to use color coded dice to control the game in various ways. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,526,300 to Todd, another stock market game, utilizes two dice, each of a different color, to yield a two digit number that refers a player to a correspondingly numbered portion of a stock board. The dice can also be distinguished by marks rather than colors and three dice can yield a three digit number. In U.S. Pat. No. 1,760,642 to Graham, dice with colored faces control the movement of marbles in a divided counter block. U.S. Pat. No. 3,055,662 to Kemp describes a bowling game that utilizes a pair of dice that bear both digits and color codes. In portions of the play, the colors refer the player to certain cards that determine what "pins" are knocked down by that roll of the dice. In the Weinstein horse racing game, a set of digit dice are divided into subsets having the same color. The players choose a colored chip before each roll of the dice. Each player then moves his playing piece a number of spaces determined by adding the numbers shown on the digit dice of the same color as the chosen chip. For each roll of the dice, a separate "starter" die, which is not color coded, controls the order in which the players advance their playing pieces on the board.
While some of these games do simulate, with varying degrees of success, actual competitive situations, none simulate competitive situations where the object is to advance oneself in a predetermined, competitive, hierarchial structure. Further, none employ a board to simulate this structure where tokens move on the board in two preferred directions, one of which is radially from peripheral portions of the board towards its center. Also, board games heretofore known in the art generally provide a limited number of possible actions during each turn. To increase the variety, and hence the interest of the play, it is common to resort to sets of "chance" cards and the like which provide an unusual benefit or penalty to the player drawing the chance card. Also, many board games require a high degree of skill or playing experience and therefore can only be enjoyed when played with others of comparable skill and/or experience.
It is therefore a principal object of the invention to provide a board game that simulates competitive advancement in a hierarchial organization.
Another object of the invention is to provide a game which simulates competitive advancement in an organization through movement of tokens on a game board in two preferred directions, one lateral and one radial.
Still another object is to provide apparatus for randomly generating a large number of different ordered sequences of digits to provide selection from a large variety of possible moves and play situations.
Yet another object is to provide a game which does not require a high degree of skill or playing experience and encourages interaction of the players.
A further object is to enhance the enjoyment of playing the game by satirizing the simulated organization.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a game that is visually exciting, durable and has a relatively low cost of manufacture.